Afraid Of The Dark
by NickiForDraco
Summary: Draco Malfoy is afraid of the dark, he tries to confront his fears, but when that doesn't work of course Harry stinking Potter comes to the rescue!


**A/N: Okay, this is really different to what I usually write, but this just randomly came to me when I was lying in bed in the dark. *hehehe* I hope you all like it! Please review, it makes Draco and Harry love you :P**

Footsteps could be heard from the Slytherin common room. They seemed to echo throughout all of the dungeons. The darkness of the hallways made the scene eerie and uncomfortable. The dungeons were usually dead silent; you could never just listen to the dungeons breathing at night, for there was never any sound to be heard when everyone was sleeping in their respective dorms. Draco lay quietly on his satin sheeted bed, gripping his pillow as the darkness seemed to press against his chest making it hard for the blonde to breath. A door creaked, someone had entered their dorm. Draco held his breath to ensure he was making no sound; his grip on the pillow seemed to tighten as the footsteps slowly walked further into the room.

A yawn then escaped the dark figures mouth and Draco let out his breath. It was just one of his roommates, he would be sure to have a conversation with them tomorrow about staying up late and waking him when they come in, although in reality he was already awake. He was already waiting for some evil force to come barging into his dorm with green flashes and screams. Draco knew that it would never happen, the Dark Lord was defeated. He was safe, at Hogwarts for his 8th year. But ever since the astronomy tower, witnessing Dumbledore die, watching people being brutally murdered and countless other horrible things, he had become unreasonably scared of the dark.

Draco Malfoy was scared of the dark.

When Draco saw that first bit of orange sky through the small dungeon window he sat up in his bed and rubbed his bloodshot eyes. Not a wink of sleep last night. Draco trudged groggily towards the showers and almost tripped on the stairs as he went.

Getting into the shower he turned the water to ninety-percent cold and only ten-percent hot. It woke him instantly to say the least. After he was fully awake from his cold shower Draco dressed and walked to his common room where he sat in front of the fire and rest his head on the arm of the recliner he was sitting on.

He shut his eyes and through his lids he could see the red of the fire flickering. It comforted Draco; he could feel himself drifting into a very welcomed sleep. But just as his mind began to shut down for the sleep it deserved Draco saw flashes of green lights and heard screaming. Jumping straight off of the recliner he drew his wand and scanned the common room. He was alone. It was only his imagination. Nothing to be scared of.

Draco couldn't bare going to sleep again so he decided to go to the Great Hall for an early breakfast, Dumbledore and a few other teachers would surely be there already so he knew the tables would be full of delightful food that would surely get his mind off of things.

When Draco reached the Great Hall he walked straight over to the Slytherin table while scanning the other students. There were a few first year Ravenclaws and a few Hufflepuffs from various years, and all alone at the Gryffindor table was Harry Potter. Draco laughed silently as he thought of the great hero, Potter eating breakfast by himself. Even though the war was over, Draco and Potter never apologized or became friends, they just simply stopped speaking with each other and Draco had even received a few small smiles from Potter this year.

Thinking of Potter and why he was all alone for breakfast, Draco started to feel a little guilty for thinking about how funny it is to watch him alone, he didn't really think it was funny at all. Potter sat there with a small frown playing at his lips and every so often he would space out and stare at the roof. He didn't seem to be eating anything either, now that Draco thought about it, the man Potter had become looked almost identical to the boy he was. Sure he had grown taller, but he was still just as skinny and pale and still looked undernourished as usual. When the war had started Potter had been leaner, more muscular and confident looking if Draco recalled correctly. Draco then tried to take his mind off of Potter; it was none of Draco's business if Harry Potter looked like he never ate or like he had defeated the Dark Lord.

Draco then realised he had been staring at Potter for the past five minutes and Potter was staring right back at him with an expression Draco couldn't figure out. It wasn't hatred, or envy, or annoyance... It sort of looked like a knowing look, like Potter knew what Draco was going through and was saying 'I understand' with his eyes. Draco managed a small smile and then looked away and started eating his breakfast.

*DM/HP*DM/HP*

That afternoon Draco was sitting under an old oak tree by the lake when he heard footsteps approach from behind, turning to see who they were Draco got a shock when he saw Harry Potter standing just a few steps away.

'Hi Malfoy.' He said kindly.  
'Hello,' Malfoy replied with a wary look.  
'I saw you at breakfast today, you looked like you hadn't slept at all. Are you alright?' Potter then sat a decent distance away from Draco and gave him a concerned look.  
'Umm...' _Try to keep it civil Draco, you can do this, just keep the peace going. No snide remarks!_ Draco's mind screamed at him. 'Fine, just having trouble sleeping is all. No offence, but why do you care?' Malfoy said in a tone that meant business but wasn't completely rude.  
'No reason, I just thought you might want someone to talk to about it, if it's nightmares you can go to Madam Pomfrey; she's got endless supplies of Dreamless sleep potion. I used it all the time a few years back when all I had was nightmares every night.' Potter then scooted around to face Draco so their toes were only centimetres apart.

'I thank you for your concern Potter, but I'll be fine on my own.' Draco replied as he stood up and walked away.  
'Just trying to help...' He heard Potter say from his spot under the tree.

Draco then dreaded the moment the sun would set and cast his whole world into darkness and fear. So as soon as the castle darkened and everything was pitch black Draco plucked up the courage to get out of his bed and walk to the common room where he sighed with relief for the light of the fire. Thinking to himself about what he was going to do with his irrational fear Draco found himself pacing.

'Father always said, to kill your fears you must face them.' Draco whispered to himself. 'Face your fear Draco, do it. Face it. It's only the darkness, nothing is there you imbecile! Do it!' Draco was forcing himself towards the common room door where as soon as he stepped outside he would be surrounded by that crushing blackness.

'One...' Draco approached the door.  
'Two...' he then pushed it open a little bit.  
'THREE!' Draco then ran out of the common room and straight down the dungeons hallways and out into the main entrance as fast as he could. By the time he reached the entrance he was almost in tears and was on the very of hysterical screaming.

'Keep going Draco, you can do this! Look how far you've gotten!' He told himself before he ran up the staircase and down a random hall, through a random classroom, up another flight of stairs, down a dead end and then stopped in his tracks when he heard light footsteps.

His first thought wasn't 'Filch! Run!' like all the other students thoughts would be, his thought was 'SWEET MERLIN I'M GOING TO DIE,'

That's all it took to send Draco over the edge and break down into hysterical tears and echoed screams. Draco couldn't care less who found him, as long as it wasn't someone who would want to kill him. Draco was flaying his arms and legs, screaming like a little girl and bawling his eyes out as he huddled into the corner of the dead end hallway.

'Sorry, sorry, I'm so sorry, don't kill me! I never meant to do anything bad, I swear! PLEASE!' Draco screamed into the darkness.

'I won't hurt you Malfoy!' Someone's voice came in reply.  
'Who's there?' Draco suddenly stopped moving but the tears still ran fast down his cheeks.  
'It's me, Harry Potter,' Harry Potter then appeared out of thin air and dropped a cloak that was concealing him to the floor.  
'How did you know where I was? You don't want to hurt me do you?' Draco pathetically cried.  
'I knew were you were because... Well I just did, and I won't hurt you Malfoy... I swear!' Potter then approached Draco with his hands up in a peace offering, in one hand he held the cloak and his wand which had obviously been lit with a Lumos, and in the other was an extremely old piece of parchment.

'What's that parchment?' Draco then ordered.  
'This?' Potter motioned to the old parchment, 'it's a map. Of the school,'  
'Where did you get it, why do you have it?' Draco fired at him.  
'I got it from my dad, well... the Weasley twins technically, but my dad made it. It shows where everyone is, what they're doing... all the time.' Potter then threw it at Draco lightly so he didn't have to move any closer.  
'Look at it if you don't believe me,'

Draco looked at the map and sure enough it was opened on the second floor and there were two dots, one saying 'Draco Malfoy' and the other saying 'Harry Potter'.

'Why are you here?' Draco then suddenly asked.  
'Well... I was looking at the map, and then saw you running around the castle, I thought the map might have been playing up and wasn't showing someone who might have been chasing you. I thought you were in trouble.' Potter then walked forward and sat next to Draco who was still curled up in the corner. 'Why were you running around?'

'I... was... exercising.' Draco lied. Harry just gave him a look and Draco instantly knew that Harry thought he was lying.

'I know you weren't exercising Draco, why were you running?' Harry whispered.  
Draco was shocked that Harry Potter just called him by his given name.  
'You... just called me Draco,'  
'Well... seeing as we are sitting here, alone, in an abandoned hallway in the middle of the night I would kinda think we were allowed too.' Potter then said, 'Why were you really running?'

Draco couldn't speak, no way in the world was he going to tell Harry stinking Potter the reason he was running through the castle in the middle of the night, he would think Draco was a pansy!

'I don't know, because I can?'  
'Malfoy... come on,'  
'No! Why should I tell you?'  
'Because I know for a fact that I'm the only one who knows you haven't been sleeping properly and you're too scared to tell your friends.' Harry said matter-of-factly.  
'Because... I'm... I was running through the castle because... I am... scaredofthedark!' Draco quickly said.

Potter was silent for a moment, he seemed to be thinking.  
'That's it? You were running through the castle because you're scared of the dark?'  
'Yes! Okay! I'm petrified of it!'  
'That's okay, I used to be scared of the dark until I was about seventeen and had to camp out in the woods every night for months.'

Draco then didn't feel so stupid about being scared of the dark. Harry Potter, the saviour of the wizarding world, the boy who lived twice and the chosen one... used to be scared of the dark too.

'You don't think that it's stupid?' Draco then asked  
'Not at all, if you want, I used to sleep with this... toy-like thing, it wasn't really a toy... Okay, it was... It was a stuffed teddy bear that smelt like lavender plants, if you like, I can give it to you, it still smells like lavender and it makes you feel safer.' Potter then raised his wand and summoned his lavender-smelling teddy bear from his dorm.

Draco sat in silence, waiting for the teddy to arrive and when it did the smell of lavender instantly washed over him and he suddenly felt better. Potter handed him the teddy bear and smiled.

'His name is Drac-... his name is Dragon... ' Potter then looked down at his feet and Draco knew that the teddy's name wasn't really Dragon... it was Draco.

'Thanks... Harry,' Draco then stood and watched Harry as he stood up too.  
'Well, tell me if Dragon works, if he does, you're welcome.' Harry then started to walk away, Draco in tow. Just as they were about to go their separate ways Draco stopped Harry and looked him straight in the eyes.

'I know his name isn't really Dragon, its Draco isn't it?'  
Harry nodded shyly and then continued to walk away. Draco then hurried through the castle, only slightly scared this time and when he got back into his dorm he gave Draco Junior a long look. He was a pure white teddy bear that was about the size of Draco's head, he was extremely soft and cuddly and had two little silver-blue buttons as eyes. Getting into bed Draco held the teddy bear close and instantly felt the difference, he didn't feel scared at all. The smell of lavender washed over him as he closed his eyes and drifted into the best sleep he had had in months.

Harry Potter once again, saved Draco. Except this time, Draco was determined to save Harry from his fears too, no matter what they were, no matter how hard it was. Draco was going to do it. 


End file.
